junk

English Online Dictionary. What means junk‎? What does junk mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒʌŋk/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɐŋk/
• Rhymes: -ʌŋk
• Homophone: junque

Etymology 1

From earlier meaning "old refuse from boats and ships", from Middle English junk, jounke, jonk, joynk (“an old cable or rope”, nautical term), sometimes cut into bits and used as caulking; of uncertain origin; perhaps related to join, joint, juncture. Often compared to Middle English junk, jonk, jonke, junck (“a rush; basket made of rushes”), from Old French jonc, from Latin iuncus (“rush, reed”); however, the Oxford English Dictionary finds "no evidence of connexion".

Noun

junk (usually uncountable, plural junks)

1. Discarded or waste material; rubbish, trash, garbage.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:trash
2. A collection of miscellaneous items of little value.
3. (slang) Any narcotic drug, especially heroin.
4. (slang) The genitalia, especially of a male.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:penis
5. (nautical) Salt beef.
   • c. 1851-1852, James Russell Lowell, Leaves from My Journal in Italy and Elsewhere:

     My physician has ordered me three pounds of minced salt-junk at every meal .

6. Pieces of old cable or cordage, used for making gaskets, mats, swabs, etc., and when picked to pieces, forming oakum for filling the seams of ships.
7. (dated, countable) A fragment of any solid substance; a thick piece; a chunk.
8. (attributive) Material or resources of a kind lacking commercial value.

9. Nonsense; gibberish.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

junk (third-person singular simple present junks, present participle junking, simple past and past participle junked)

1. (transitive, informal) To throw away.
2. (transitive, informal) To find something for very little money (meaning derived from the term junkshop)

Synonyms

• (throw away): bin, chuck, chuck away, chuck out, discard, dispose of, ditch, dump, scrap, throw away, throw out, toss, trash
• See also Thesaurus:junk

Translations

Etymology 2

From Portuguese junco or Dutch jonk (or reinforced), from Arabic جُنْك (junk), from Malay jong (جوڠ), from Javanese ꦗꦺꦴꦁ (jong), from Old Javanese joṅ (“seagoing ship”).

Noun

junk (plural junks)

2. (nautical) A Chinese sailing vessel.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• “junk, n.³”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2024.

Bavarian

Etymology

From Middle High German junc, from Old High German jung.

Adjective

junk

1. (Sappada) young

References

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Cimbrian

Alternative forms

• djung, jung

Etymology

From Middle High German junc, from Old High German jung.

Adjective

junk

1. (Tredici Comuni) young

References

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Middle English

Noun

junk

1. Alternative form of jonk

North Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [jʊŋk]

Etymology 1

From Old Frisian diunk, from Proto-Germanic *dinkwaz, variant of *dankwaz (“dark”). Compare with German dunkel.

Adjective

junk

1. (Sylt) dark

Inflection

Alternative forms

• jonk (Föhr-Amrum)

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *inkw.

Pronoun

junk

1. (Sylt, dated) Object case of at: you two, both of yourselves

Determiner

junk (invariable)

1. (Sylt, dated) your, of you two (second-person dual possessive determiner)

Pronoun

junk (plural junken)

1. (Sylt, dated) yours, that of you two (second-person dual possessive pronoun)

See also

Plautdietsch

Etymology

From Middle Low German and Old Saxon jung.

Adjective

junk (comparative jinja)

1. young